Opinion

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Opinion

Considering what the Tocqueville effect is and how it applies to today’s society

Feb. 16, 2017

In the year 1840, when the U.S. was not even a century old, Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville wrote the historical “Democracy in America,” the detailed observations of a nation just starting to break on through its initial growing pains. By then, the experiment that was the U.S. had been around long enough for both its citizens and outsiders from Europe to take note of how things were going. If the life of America, thus far was a college course, “Democracy in America” would be the country’s gradebook after a rough midterm week. A point where one thinks, “Alright, how are we doing here?”

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Opinion

Successful women: Please don’t screw up

Feb. 16, 2017

Women who have made their way to the top of the professional food chain did so by shattering through the tenacious glass ceiling that prevents women from climbing up the rungs of the corporate ladder.

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Opinion

Darts & Laurels - February 17, 2017

Feb. 16, 2017

As the rush of Valentine’s Day week ends, bouquets of dead flowers start to show up in trash cans, and those little helium balloons are starting to take up space. Perhaps you stocked up on chocolates, or you’re going through the large box you were given. Either way, the one holiday to look forward to in February (unless you’re really enthusiastic about Presidents Day) has passed, and now there’s only Spring Break to look forward to. That is, unless, you have grabbed a copy of our dear newspaper and flipped open to this week’s …

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Opinion

The curse of living in ‘interesting times’

Feb. 15, 2017

There’s an old quote — attributed to Chinese philosophers for some reason, even though the exact origins are dubious — that wishes to the listener, “May you live in interesting times.” This wish is called the “Chinese curse.” Now, at first that might seem a little odd. Don’t we want to live in interesting times? But it doesn’t take much reflection to get what the quote actually implies.

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Sports

Florida football will be better in 2017: a rebuttal

By Ethan Bauer | Feb. 14, 2017

On Monday, one of my colleagues penned a column saying that Florida football fans shouldn’t be optimistic. That UF won’t be making a third-consecutive trip to the SEC Championship. That with Florida’s daunting 2017 schedule, the Gators are doomed to mediocrity.

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Opinion

Get in touch with your emotions: Let yourself feel

Feb. 14, 2017

It feels like modern society idolizes logical thinking over emotional thinking. Bring feelings into an argument and you get labeled overemotional and hysterical. Gush about how much you love something and you’re given a side-eye for being too enthusiastic. Vent about how much you hate something and you’re told you’re being too passionate. It’s not clear when this preference for subdued emotions became the norm. It’s not even that society prefers totally logical thinking to the emotional way — we’re expected to have emotions, of course, but we need to keep them in check.

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Opinion

February relationship series: notion of ‘innocence’

Feb. 14, 2017

Any conversation about intimacy would be remiss to ignore the subject of sex, and I think it is vital to examine a longstanding social trend known as “purity culture.” Society has deemed sex as the single act in human experience which is detractive. The term “virginity” has no parallel in our language. You don’t avoid learning to swim because you can never again be a “non-swimmer.” Let’s take a look at why.

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Opinion

A way to mend a fractured union: Consider understanding the other side

Feb. 14, 2017

Much has been said, and much will be said, about the recent presidential election. It appears that many are still wrestling with the potential consequences of the outcome, and I doubt this wrestling will cease anytime soon. Unfortunately, this was my first presidential election. I have no other experience of how an election normally goes. Yet, this one did not seem to conform to anyone’s — except President Donald Trump’s — idea of how an election ought to go.

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Opinion

I hate concerts: a reflection on concerts, and why I hate them

Feb. 14, 2017

I hate concerts. There, I said it. I hate concerts. I hate being packed like a sardine in a big crowd of sweaty people. I hate nodding my head idly to the lackluster performances of small-time opening acts. I hate it when opening acts play long sets. I hate ticketing websites’ “convenience fees.” I hate overpriced T-shirts. I hate that touring acts always sell warped vinyl. I hate buying something at the merchandise table at the beginning of the night only to realize I have to hold it for the rest of the show. I hate people loudly singing in my ear when I am trying to enjoy the show. I hate how sweaty my legs, armpits and forehead get while I am standing in the audience. I hate the way the bottoms of my feet ache after standing for three hours. I hate bouncers. I hate other people’s body odor. I hate poor mixing. I hate poor lighting. I hate the way sold-out shows are so crowded and some venues are so poorly designed that in a fire, several people would certainly be trampled on their way out of the venue.

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Sports

Column: Who to love, hate and appreciate in the sports world on Valentine’s Day

By IAN COHEN | Feb. 13, 2017

Happy Valentine’s Day, sports fans.

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Opinion

Tell someone you love them today

Feb. 13, 2017

Valentine’s Day gets a lot of backlash nowadays. And you know, some of it is warranted. Why are we reducing love to pink hearts, stuffed bears, dozens of roses and expensive restaurants? Why do we compare what we give our signicant others to what our friends give theirs and vice versa? Somehow, Valentine’s Day has ingrained itself in our culture; it was a day for class parties in elementary school, awkward dances in middle school, embarrassing singing telegrams in high school, television specials, dinner deals, sales on candy, and so on. It’s as if we try to cram all this obsession with romance into one day.

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Opinion

‘La La Land’: Music is wonderful, but you can't equate it to the writing process

Feb. 13, 2017

I’ve spent the past two weeks reading and rereading the stories in Samuel P. Garvey’s “The Tales of Captain Albert Alexander,” as well as examining the scribbles and equations in the margins of its pages. Professor Bishop says the drawings aren’t his, and I think he’s right. The handwriting isn’t his, but the designs, drawings and system specifications outlined in the writing all seem to be pointing toward me — or another automaton just like me.

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Opinion

Cultures and acceptance make America great

Feb. 13, 2017

I have lived in France and Ivory Coast, two countries targeted by IS and al-Qaida in 2016. I grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, the most dangerous city in the world. Yet I have never felt as unsafe as I did last week when I listened to a class debate in which students gave incredibly offensive speeches.

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Sports

Football fans: Don’t expect SEC championship appearance

By Matt Brannon | Feb. 12, 2017

Some students and fans have welcomed coach Jim McElwain as God’s gift to football since he won his first Gators game in 2015.

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Opinion

Don’t let celebrity opinions distract from real issues

Feb. 12, 2017

Nowadays it’s increasingly common for celebrities and entertainers to take a public stance on politics. With the ability to air their thoughts and opinions on social media with a few clicks, everyone is mostly aware of what celebrities have to say. It’s an interesting phenomenon.

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Opinion

Don’t be afraid to ask for help; it’s only natural

Feb. 12, 2017

Our whole lives, we work to be independent. College is our first shot at independence, and quite frankly, most of us blow it at least a little bit at the beginning. Try as we might to stop relying on other people, we can never hope to be truly free from some sort of dependence on others, and that’s OK.

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Opinion

There needs to be a bigger push for more Asian representation in media

Feb. 12, 2017

Asian Americans in film are hard to come by — and portrayals that don’t rely on stereotypes are even more sparse. I had always been aware of this to some extent, but this past week, as I was working on a project for my web apps class, it became even more clear. The assignment was to create a database, and so I sought to create a database of movies with diverse casting — movies that didn’t have a completely white main cast. I saw this as a relatively low standard to meet, but I was surprised how hard it was to come by films that met my standard. It was a struggle to find films with an inclusive cast across different genres, but when I started specifically looking for more Asian American casts, I had to dig further into years past. One of the only films in the past year I could easily find with an Asian American lead was “Lion,” which stars Dev Patel.

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Sports

Column: Dear New York: Do the world a favor and just end it already

By Ray Boone | Feb. 9, 2017

OK, this is starting to become childish.

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Opinion

Darts & Laurels - February 10, 2017

Feb. 9, 2017

We’re interrupting your weekly Darts & Laurels today in light of the news of President Donald Trump’s infamous travel ban being blocked by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. From the looks of it, it’s well on its way to the Supreme Court, so we’re going to have to reschedule our regularly planned musings on pop culture and shift aside for this week’s (specialized)…

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Opinion

February relationship series: love and friendship, two sides of the same coin

Feb. 9, 2017

When we think about relationships, the word that often comes to mind is love. It can give us a sense of purpose, bring out the noblest parts of us and reveal things we never knew about ourselves. Too often, however, we think of love applying only to our romantic partners. In honor of everyone else, I’d like to talk this week about friendship.